Love Me For Me

Chapter 1

Two weeks ago, October 9th

"Katie, oh god!" I gasp, laughing.

"I mean, he's just so damn hot!" she whispers, steering her horse closer to Midnight so she can be closer to me.

I watch as the guy she's talking about kneels over to pick up a bucket.

When he turns around, Katie whistles.

"Katie!" I gasp. "You're crazy! Shh!" I swat at her. She snickers.

"Calm down, Megan. He's hot and you know it. You're so pure." she says.

I sigh. "He is very attractive, and I'm not pure!"

"Yes you are! If a guy said hi to you, you would blush red as a burn and look away, messing with your hair!"

"No I wouldn't!"

"Yes you would!" she smiles. She stops her horse suddenly. I stop mine, and she moves forward so she's in line with mine.

"Race ya to my house!" I say. I dig my heels in Midnight's side. She breaks into a gallop.

"Unfair!" Katie yells after me. I hear Camp's hoofs hitting the ground as she gallops after me. I sit up a bit more and lean forward. Midnight speeds. Katie swiftly falls behind.

I run onto my yard and jump over the back fence, and then halt to a stop.

Katie's horse stops next to me, and I get off.

My Dad is sitting in a camping chair in the middle of the horse pasture, looking around.

He turns around when he hears us and I see his shoulders tense.

I shrug it off.

My Dad is a very different man. My Mom left when I was a child and left him to raise me and my brother by himself. It destroyed him. He doesn't talk about her much. I don't even know what she looks like. The only time my Dad loosens up is around family and Katie and my brothers girlfriend. It's just him and I now because my brother is twenty and he's at college studying to be a veterinarian in Maine.

My Dad is my role model. I take Midnight's saddle off and let her roam. Katie does the same with Camp.

Midnight is a girl, Camp is a boy.

When I turn to walk out of the barn, Dad is standing there with a sad smile on his face, leaning against the barn door.

"Let's go inside and talk." he says.

Frowning, I nod and follow him in our small house.

"Sit down." he says.

I do. Katie sits next to me and he sits across from us.

"So, you know how the farming this year wasn't good?" he asks.

"Yes." I say.

"And how I was looking for a job?"

"Yes." I say.

"Well..." he takes a deep breath. "I found one."

"Dad, that's gre-"

"In New York City."

Silence.

Katie clears her throat, "I'm sorry Mr. Walden, but I'm pretty sure you just said New York City."

"I did say New York City, Katie."

"So? Decline it and keep looking."

Dad takes a deep breath.